“Iiiifff I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were coming on to me, missster Gavin.” Nick leaned forward over the dining room table toward Kristoph, a skyline of wine bottles and other dishes between them.

“How many weeks have we been seeing one another?” Kristoph drawled. “How much have you had to drink tonight that you’ve finally taken the hints I’ve been dropping in your lap with increasing lack of subtlety? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way, Nick, I know exactly how many of each.”

Kristoph watched the flush on Wright’s cheeks grow brighter as he choked. “What? I was joking!”

“I wasn’t.” Kris reached across the table and grabbed his wrist. “I’ll be honest, it’s been amusing, but even my patience has been wearing thin with you deliberately failing to notice that we’ve been dating for the past eight weeks.”

Nick laughed, but he was still glowing bright red, sinking somewhat petulantly down in his chair. “Well, maybe I was waiting to see just how direct you’d get, Mr. Suave.”

“So you ran out of patience for the game too, then, hmm?” Kristoph’s painted nails traced over Phoenix’s knuckles. “I might have gotten very direct if you’d let it go on much longer. Since you refused to notice ‘dinner at my place’, and my foot against yours. I was beginning to think I’d have to shove my tongue down your throat before you got the memo.”

Nick grinned that sloppy, drunk grin that Kristoph was becoming all too fond of. “The night is still young, you know.”

Kristoph wasn’t sure whether Nick genuinely had been playing along with the game, or if he was covering now to save face. In court, Phoenix Wright had been known for stunning deductions– but only with his back firmly against the wall. He could easily imagine that all the hinting he’d done had snapped together in just that moment.

Well, whether it was a clever charade or charming ignorance, Kristoph was charmed. And Nick was right about one thing.

The night was still young.

“Why don’t you come closer, then, Nick, and I’ll see how this vintage we’ve been drinking tastes when it’s already been in your mouth.”

Nick’s scarlet face went even brighter, and Kristoph found himself very pleased indeed.